India is currently one of the largest producers of salt products in the world, employing close to a
million salt workers across 9 states. The majority of salt farming in India is carried out in the
Surendranager District, an area spanning 900 square miles which is completely flooded during the
August/September Monsoon. From October to May, salt is "manufactured" from the natural brine deposited in
wells of soft gravel, sand, clay, and mud and is "harvested" in a process that has changed very little over
the centuries. "Agrarias" are the small-producer family farmers that work the salt flats during the dry
months and harvest salt for use in manufacturing and commercial processes or in a refined form as table salt. As
with most harvesting and related agricultural work throughout the world, the majority of the production is handled
by women and adolescent girls. More than even traditional agricultural labor, the process of "farming" salt is
physically intensive and the working conditions on the sun baked and isolated salt pans is severe. Yet, out of
tradition, circumstance or simply the lack of any other opportunity, women salt farmers toil in some of most
marginalized conditions known on the globe.
Since 1992 SEWA has been working with women salt farmers in the State of Gujarat which is both SEWA's base
and the largest salt producing State in India. SEWA's work with salt farmers is focused in the Surendranager
District where they have provided services including child care, literacy, nutrition, and health care classes.
Over the years women in the salt farm communities have increasingly expressed to SEWA a desire to take greater
ownership of the salt production process and to get out of the "middlemen" trap where control of the product
value chain and profits are controlled by predatory transporters, sellers and processors. In response, SEWA
has partnered with GFI to offer technical training to improve product value and production and SEWA has also
organized women into savings groups so that investments could be made into direct ownership of production
and distribution mechanisms. Additionally, partnerships have been created with research institutes to introduce
processes such as reducing calcium sulphate from the sub soil brine to create higher value salt.
While many of these steps offered needed progress and greater solidarity amongst women salt farmers, breaking
the underlying poverty and empowerment cycle remains a major barrier. Salt farmers continue to see potential
profits poured into middleman services and despite improved product values, available markets have remained
limited. Most significantly, however, women salt famers are held back by the exorbitant cost of diesel fuel.
This is due to the unique process of producing salt which requires thousands of gallons of briny water to be
pumped into salt pans by means of large diesel powered pumps. The cost of running these pumps represents
nearly two-thirds of the total input cost of farming salt in the Surendranager pans and is the major economic
barrier for women salt farmers in India. Remove this barrier and add improved market access and greater control
of product value chains, and the result is meaningful livelihood development and economic empowerment for women
salt farmers. With this goal in mind, the Global Fairness Initiative and SEWA have launched of a comprehensive
Salt Farmers Economic Empowerment Program (SWEEP) in Gujarat.
The Program
Drawing on SEWA's successful capacity building work with the Surendranagar's women salt farmers, the
SWEEP project takes an important step forward by introducing environmentally sustainable energy technology
to replace the existing diesel system and opening additional market opportunities as well as greater
ownership over the production value-chain. The key underlying goal is to improve livelihoods and empower
30,000 woman farmers to profit from the product and the production process of their salt businesses.
Through SWEEP, salt farmers retain profits and increase livelihood opportunities by replacing expensive
diesel fuel costs with renewable, locally owner power alternatives built around environmentally sustainable
energy solutions deployed at a large. Introducing a local ownership model also may also allow salt
communities to leverage surplus power production and realize additional profits from distribution of power
through community based or modular utilities. For example, the excess energy obtained through a sustainable
grid design could create an enabling environment for the development of sideline industries and enterprises.
Additionally, SWEEP advances local ownership of production inputs (pumps, pans, etc.) and processes
(refining, packaging, distribution, etc) to help women salt farmers avoid the costly and demeaning
experience of working through predatory local middlemen (particularly fuel distributors). This ownership
is developed through a combination of realized profits and debt financing for targeted infrastructure
and supply chain investments. In conjunction with the energy and infrastructure upgrades, a
multi-stakeholder engagement process will be undertaken to open linkages to a larger set of end buyers
and energy suppliers. This engagement process puts women salt farmers in direct contact with market players
and in the lead roles of addressing regulatory and financing barriers. Through this process, and the
introduction of new technology, SWEEP taps the livelihood potential of more than 80,000 salt producers
in the larger Surendranagar community and creates a diverse and sustainable foundation of economic
opportunity and empowerment for women producers.
